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Citizenship and Immigration Canada redesigned its immigrant investor program, effective April 1, 1999. A $28,000 commission is now paid to an approved financial institution for aiding in the facilitation of the application process. However, payment of this commission takes a minimum of three years according to Michael Bradley, Director of The Investor Immigration Program of Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
Agents participating in this process can find it very lucrative. Many immigrants who do qualify for the investor immigrant program choose not to put up the full $400,000 but only to place a down payment of $120,000 at one of the approved institutions. They are able to arrange financing to borrow the other $280,000. Their $120,000 is non-refundable.
"Many immigrants prefer this option rather than giving the government the full $400,000. These immigrants are business people first and they prefer this option because they believe they can make better use of their own money than having the entire amount sit with the government for five years earning nothing (no interest)," says Eric Major, Director, Immigrant Investor Programs for the HSBC Bank.
Some
immigration consultants earn up to $100,000 for the successful
processing of these immigrants - between the popular Quebec program and
a finder fee they receive from the financial institution administering
these funds.
"Immigration Consultants are driving the Investor Class Immigrants to Canada, for every lawyer who brings us a client, we see three clients from an immigration consultant," adds Paul Bruce, who is responsible for the MCAP Securities Investor Immigrant program.
There is an ethical issue about immigration consultants receiving a commission. Unlike lawyers and financial advisers in Canada they are not regulated. Many of these consultants do not operate in Canada, most likely because they would not be qualified to do so. According to Bradley, "The Honourable Denis Coderre, Minister for Citizenship and Immigration Canada is working on regulations to govern the ethics and activities of immigration consultants." The question many are asking themselves is, will this policy be in force before the next federal election and if it is, will it have teeth?
Lawyers who receive commission for acting as agents, directing funds to financial institutions participating in either the Canadian or Quebec programs have both an ethical and moral responsibility for full disclosure to their clients that they will be receiving a commission. Green & Spiegel discloses to every client who qualifies under the investor program all fees and commissions the firm will be receiving. In addition, Green & Spiegel will direct these clients to seek a second opinion from another non-connected Firm to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest.
In 1994, Green was appointed by Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada Sergio Marchi to make recommendations to the federal government on the immigration business program. He believes the program is a noble venture, but the government has not made it a priority to process these applications.
While visiting Green & Spiegel, I had the pleasure of meeting an applicant who first applied under the Investor Program in April 2001. His net worth is well over $10 million US, he operates a very successful bottle recycling plant in the Middle East that employs over 400 people, and he wants to immigrate to Canada to open a similar plant. He plans to employ 45 people.
The federal government has yet to review his file. In September, he finally received his receipt from Citizenship and Immigration Canada for his immigration-processing fee that he paid over two years ago.
Even though this successful businessman's application has not been processed, he still wants to immigrate to Canada. Green said that his client could very easily obtain a visa to the European Community within months of his application without the bureaucratic hassles.
"This country is losing thousands of qualified business people to Australia, New Zealand and the European Community every year. Business people want to be treated in a proper business-like manner by government officials, which should be efficient, timely and professional," says Green. He showed me a list of files that have yet to be processed by the government dating as far back as 1996 of very qualified business and investor class immigration applicants, who had a collective net worth of well over $100 million.
Immigration law specialists John Otis of Otis & Korman in Toronto sees dozens of immigrants in his office every day, trying to make Canada their home. "We don't know how good we have it in this country - incredible types of people from around the globe want to make this their home. I believe it's because our multicultural society works and we are an example for the world. Qualified immigrants come to this country to enjoy our freedoms that many of us take for granted, to make a better life for their children and themselves, and most of all they want to contribute to both our society and economy."
Bradley says "that the minister acknowledges that the proper attention has not been given to business and investor immigrant applicants over the last few years." Hoping to address this problem, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is placing a minimum quota on the number of business and investor immigrant files that must be processed each year. This will be the first time the federal government has identified how many cases must be approved. In the past the government had not distinguished business and investor immigrants from the rest of the immigration classes.
Business and investor immigrants respect professionals, have a need for their advice and are willing to pay for their services. They have a clear understanding that to succeed in Canada they will need to hire a host of professionals to establish themselves. In addition to their immigration lawyer, many will need chartered accountants, certified financial planners, real estate agents, corporate lawyers, real estate lawyers, investment professionals, international tax lawyers and corporate benefit consultants. Business and investor immigrants are the clients everybody wants and the people Canada will benefit most from, by inviting them to join our country's rich mosaic.
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